George A. Smith

“ I don't care if the wealth of the world is used to get the most delicious dishes for a man to live upon, in a short time they become sickening and nauseous and are actually injurious to the human system. ”

“ If we go down into the States now we find them engaged in a war, and I suppose that the language that is generally denominated the King's English, fails to tell the extremes of folly, wickedness, corruption and degradation that brought this war on. Tongue cannot tell it, the language we speak has not got words enough to describe it accurately. Friends and brothers are killing each other. ”

“ Its doctrines have been taught to every nation, kindred and tongue, where the Elders have had an opportunity of preaching to the people, and those who have from time to time embraced the doctrines of the Saints have been gathered together, bringing with them all manner of prejudices, notions and whims, and if too great a body of such material had been hurriedly brought together it might have been impossible, (though some people say there is nothing impossible with the Almighty,) but still I think that it might have been impossible to hold such an incongruous mass of materials together. ”

“ If we have not advanced as much as we might have done we have scattered the truth abroad. The wisdom of our President has taken the poor from the distant nations of the earth, brought them here and made them rich. You pass through this Territory to-day and you strive to find the man or woman that cannot get bread for supper. You cannot do it. You find the man or woman that is destitute of clothing, if you can. Such destitution does not exist. You may search the world in vain for a similar people, and you will find that a people so universally comfortably situated do not exist ”

“ The rest are still labouring to build up Zion, to spread abroad the fulness of the everlasting Gospel and to save all who will give heed to its teachings and the dictates of the Holy Spirit, while those who cannot "bear the sieve of variety" are occasionally leaving the Church and going again to wallow in the wickedness of the world. ”

“ A polity has been introduced that benefits everybody, instead of leaving us to lay our own plans, and be at the shrine of wickedness and corruption. When a poor man comes to a Bishop and says, "I am hungry, I want some bread." ”

“ This is just the character of those men that act in this way, they can be pigs or puppies, Saints or apostates, just as they like, and I do feel that if such men will leave and stay away we will be contented with what we can raise independent of all those who are wandering abroad and trying to shake hands with the Devil. But I find that those who stay here, and do their duty and struggle to fulfil counsel, will increase in all that is good, while the others—pig and puppy—will all go to hell together. ”

“ It actually seems as though the vengeance of God was poured out upon them, and every time that either party suffer a defeat that party is filled with increased rage and vengeance, and they thirst for each other's blood. ”

“ These are the blessings of the Lord unto his faithful people. If a man has all the wealth in creation, and has heaped upon him all the honours and powers that the world can give, his soul is discontented and miserable, unless he possesses the Spirit of Christ. ”

“ The Bishop might take the old Gentile plan, give the hungry man a dollar, which he would spend and do nothing to provide more, and thus he will be kept eternally poor, but instead of this he finds him work, the man's way is opened, and, in a short time, he is rich, for he is able to live from his own exertions. Herein is manifested the wisdom of Heaven, which should be in the breast of every man in Zion, and it also shows the wisdom of that head which God has placed to guide us and make us a self-sustaining independent people. ”

“ But with proper exercise and care, and the common food that is produced within ourselves, is sufficient for us, and it is calculated to develope the mind and body of man, and to lay a foundation for a race of men that shall rule the world. ”

“ Now, I know really that we ought to be ashamed of our ignorance, and yet brother Musser has told us that we are a great deal a-head of the Western States. Really, if we are not we ought to be ashamed of ourselves. ”

“ When the Elders were scattered among the Gentiles to preach repentance and baptism for the remission of sins, many would say how wonderfully these men preached! What smart men they were considered by those who heard them! ”

“ Those who live in this way become weak and effeminate, and finally rendered entirely useless. For my own part, I say give me the good wheat and good plain living, then I shall have strength, and stand a good chance for good health and long life. ”

“ These men acquired the ingenuity and the tact by which they handled the Scriptures with such ability that they were actually considered by the world to be very learned and talented men and some of them are known yet by the sobriquet of "Walking Bible!" ”

“ You go into a corn field where the stalks grow too rapidly and you find them weak, and a very slight wind will break them down. You look at the progress of nations when they grow too rapidly, you will perceive that they immediately fall to pieces. ”

“ This people is rising gradually. You can find men who have gone forth and baptized their hundreds, but few who have baptized their thousands, and if all the numbers that have been baptized into this Church since its first organization were added together I do not suppose that there would be less than a million, and but few of these have remained to the present time, the rest have built up cities for the Gentiles, and have populated such towns as St. ”